# Jack Satan — Poetry character guide

> Jack Satan in Poetry by Ambrose Bierce.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Satan

**First appearance:** 0000-poetry

## Snapshot

Bierce's familiar devil, a wry and worldly presence who treats damnation as a matter of course and hell as a place with a view.

## Who they are

Jack Satan moves through these poems as the poet's sardonic companion, less a tempter than a bureaucrat of the underworld who has seen it all and finds it tedious. In 'Hell' the speaker sinks for twenty centuries only to be told, flatly, 'this is Hell' — a joke Satan would appreciate. He matters because he gives Bierce a voice for the bleak comedy of the afterlife, undercutting pious comfort with the calm of a man who has read the fine print.

## In the story

### [Two Socialists](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/two-socialists)

Implied as the creator of the foul planet, which even he cast off.

### [Genesis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/genesis)

Envious of the Master's power, creates Doxey from slime and lends him his soul.

### [Constancy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/constancy)

Identified as one of the 'twins of constancy' in the chase after Bryan's head.

### [The Woman and the Devil](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/the-woman-and-the-devil)

The Devil who sneaks into the workshop and lends his disposition to the Woman.

### [In High Life](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/in-high-life)

Attends the wedding as a doorman, referred to as 'good Sir John Satan'.

### [The Day of Wrath](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/the-day-of-wrath)

Referenced as 'Satan' in the opening line, whose 'painful duty' is the day of wrath.

### [A Constructor](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/a-constructor)

The Devil is seen building a customs-house by the sea, stating he has built enough churches.

### [An Inspired Performance](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/an-inspired-performance)

The Devil is depicted as troubling a pool of mud, from which Vierick arises.

### [A Commuted Sentence](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/a-commuted-sentence)

Appears to deliver Saint Peter's reply regarding the commutation of their sentence.

### [The Transmigrations of a Soul](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/the-transmigrations-of-a-soul)

Invoked as a rival to Pixley, who is said to surpass Satan in vice and shamelessness.

### [Emancipation](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/emancipation)

Disguised as a newly dead deacon, he infiltrates the church and secretly claims a mortgage on the congregation.

### [The Subdued Editor](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/the-subdued-editor)

The devil, appearing as a sunny, curly-haired youth, who comes to 'inspire' Pixley and reduce him to a sweating, helpless state.

### [Satan's Modest Refusal of Earthly Monuments](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/content)

Visits earth and responds to a follower's lament about the lack of monuments to his glory.

### [A Hasty Inference](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/a-hasty-inference)

The Devil, who comes from the Pit to petition for equal status in Heaven, citing the hypocrisy of the Master's tolerance of corrupt wealthy men.

### [XXXVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/xxxvi)

Implied as the father of Henry Vrooman, referred to as an 'Imp of Satan's getting'.

### [Peaceful Expulsion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/peaceful-expulsion)

Appears as a friend to Mountwave, supporting the anti-Chinese expulsion movement.

### [The Fiend's Delight](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/the-fiend-s-delight)

Mentioned as a demonic entity involved in the punishments.

### [CLXXXIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/clxxxiv)

Satan speaks to the narrator, ejecting Hope and blaming the narrator for causing trouble.

### [CCXXX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/ccxxx)

Grants entry to the voluptuary's soul and comments on the women.

### [CCXXXV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/ccxxxv)

Approaches the Gate seeking something, is dismissed by Peter, then seizes Memory.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/characters/jack_satan
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/characters